James Kerr Beckwith

See http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canbrnep/beckwithFamHisto.htm

Dr. Kerr Beckwith.

His brother Kerr forsook the family farm and chose the healing art, He wore fine clothes and had a gentle maiden’s heart; When for a nervous, suffering, howling, growling, frenzied youth, He would relieve the pain by taking out a naughty tooth, Then in his sympathy I have heard his neighbor’s loud assert, He’d take the turnkey off and ask the patient, "does it hurt?" ‘Twas meant for him a slur, but was indeed a compliment, One which no honest, earnest prudent doctor would resent; For doctors with their nerves of steel should have a woman’s heart, For pity softens pain and helps alleviate the smart. He was the first of the great doctor harvest gathered here; A harvest like the orchard fields, enlarging every year. A useful life he lived "in practice" on the southern shore, And toiled with windmills there to supersede the sail and oar, And on the water made his little model boat to ride, The genius of his scheme to prove against the wind and tide.